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Total solar watts not displaying

Newfiejeff

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Asking for a friend who I just set up a network for his controllers but the total watts of all his solar panels are not showing. The charge controllers are not smart controllers but he installed a dongle on each controller.
We updated the software dongle and controllers then set up a network and all went as planned. The only thing missing is the total of all solar watts is not showing.

My other concern is his batteries are if all different voltages. Seems like a job for another time.
 

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I don't think you'll see any combined total inside Victron Connect. You'll have to add up the "Power" from each charge controller.

If you connect things up to a Cerbo or Raspberry Pi and connect to the VRM, then you'll see the combined power coming in from all charge controllers.

As far as the battery voltage goes, I know some of the solar charge controllers have "battery sense" cables, but since these look to be smaller ones, I'm not sure if they have that ability. If you add a Smart Shunt, that has the ability to share the battery voltage across the "network" to the charge controllers.
 
Ok, thanks.
I am just expecting as I seen on exploring.life when Nate hooked up two controllers together it showed combine then he hooked up a smart shunt.
 
Oh, you’re talking about “network total power” when you’re looking at a specific solar charge controller. I thought you were looking for something on the image you shared for total pv power.

So you set up the smart network already and you went through each charge controller and connected it to the smart network? If they’re all connected, I don’t know why you wouldn’t see that total power unless it’s a limitation of the non-Bluetooth charge controllers.

@sunshine_eggo any thoughts? I haven’t used the smart network in a few years.
 
So you set up the smart network already and you went through each charge controller and connected it to the smart network?
Yes done that and updated all dongles and controller software.
waiting to get a screenshot of his network screen, I am home and he is at the cabin.
It may be a limitation of the dongles and that type of setu.
 
VE.direct BT dongle

Manual:


1.3. Limitations​

There are a few limitations to be aware of:
  • The VE.Direct Bluetooth Smart Dongle is not compatible with Windows PC.
  • Synchronised charging is not possible with VE.Smart Networking.
  • Stored trends is not supported.
  • “Keep SOC” option is not supported for the Battery SOC on reset setting.
  • Bluetooth GATT service is not supported.
 
So you set up the smart network already and you went through each charge controller and connected it to the smart network?
Yes done that and updated all dongles and controller software.
see attached network
Synchronised charging is not possible with VE.Smart Networking.
so your saying the controllers are no better in a network then when they were not set up?
 
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Yes done that and updated all dongles and controller software.
see attached network

so your saying they are no better in a network then when they were not set up?

They can receive voltage, current and temperature data supplied from VE.Smart sources like a SBS, BMV-712 or smartshunt, which is very valuable, and it's arguably vastly more beneficial than synch charging.

Synchronized charging is not particularly beneficial. It's mostly a placebo/OCD satisfaction issue. It won't produce any more total harvest except in very rare cases, and when it does, it's the cases where you're getting a small % improvement on a crappy number because solar conditions are crappy.

Victron is pretty good about listing limitations in a dedicated section in their manuals. Always worth checking.

IMHO, if you bought these to get synch charging, it was a waste of time and $ even if they worked.

I wouldn't sweat the voltage deviation. Victron MPPT are only about 1% accurate, and it's made worse by the fact that the voltage they measure is influenced by the current. More current usually means higher voltage. To get a better feel for their accuracy/consistency, check them when they are no longer producing power.

With an SBS, they would receive identical voltage readings measured by the SBS - no voltage drop would occur, and they would register the same voltage (not necessarily on the summary screen), they would also receive temperature data - useful for low temp charge protection or lead-acid temperature compensation.

With a shunt, you also get actual battery current, which is far more important than sync charging. The chargers base the tail current on the ACTUAL current going into the battery rather than the current the MPPT is producing.

The cheapest path to all three is the smartshunt with a temperature sensor.
 
They can receive voltage, current and temperature data supplied from VE.Smart sources like a SBS, BMV-712 or smartshunt, which is very valuable, and it's arguably vastly more beneficial than synch charging.

Synchronized charging is not particularly beneficial. It's mostly a placebo/OCD satisfaction issue. It won't produce any more total harvest except in very rare cases, and when it does, it's the cases where you're getting a small % improvement on a crappy number because solar conditions are crappy.

Victron is pretty good about listing limitations in a dedicated section in their manuals. Always worth checking.

IMHO, if you bought these to get synch charging, it was a waste of time and $ even if they worked.

I wouldn't sweat the voltage deviation. Victron MPPT are only about 1% accurate, and it's made worse by the fact that the voltage they measure is influenced by the current. More current usually means higher voltage. To get a better feel for their accuracy/consistency, check them when they are no longer producing power.

With an SBS, they would receive identical voltage readings measured by the SBS - no voltage drop would occur, and they would register the same voltage (not necessarily on the summary screen), they would also receive temperature data - useful for low temp charge protection or lead-acid temperature compensation.

With a shunt, you also get actual battery current, which is far more important than sync charging. The chargers base the tail current on the ACTUAL current going into the battery rather than the current the MPPT is producing.

The cheapest path to all three is the smartshunt with a temperature sensor.
So having charge controllers on a network is only really beneficial when a smart shunt is being used?
 
So dongles are basically making the charge controllers smart and no more use than that?

My take also from this, he would have had to buy the dongles to see what the charge controllers are actually doing and to set up the network and he would need to buy a smart shunt along with a temp sensor. Then his system would be more complete to the point that all of his charge controllers would communicate with each other, charge more efficiently(because of the sensor and shunt)along with knowing what percentage his batteries are rather than looking at a volt meter.
 
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So having charge controllers on a network is only really beneficial when a smart shunt is being used?

Yep. Synch charging can be beneficial in highly variable or poor PV conditions, but the gains are small amounts of small potential.

There is ONE benefit in that all MPPT work at the same battery voltage as measured by the randomly chosen "master" MPPT.

So dongles are basically making the charge controllers smart and no more use than that?

Not quite even that because the smart controllers CAN do sync charging and data logging (45 days), so...

Bluesolar + (BT dongle) = Smartsolar - (sync charging) - (data logging) - (maybe others)

My take also from this, he would have had to buy the dongles to see what the charge controllers are actually doing and to set up the network and he would need to buy a smart shunt along with a temp sensor. Then his system would be more complete to the point that all of his charge controllers would communicate with each other, charge more efficiently(because of the sensor and shunt)along with knowing what percentage his batteries are rather than looking at a volt meter.

Pretty much.

1 BT dongle per Bluesolar + smartshunt + VE.Smart network = all controllers have very accurate voltage, battery current and temperature data to make charging more accurate and likely a little faster (bulk phase lasts a little longer using open circuit voltage instead of charger measured voltage).

The temp sensor is optional and is only needed if you want to use the controller's low temp charge protection function for LFP batteries that may not have it or as an extra layer of protection.
 
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